Today's News

Albuquerque PBS affiliate channel 5, KNME, will air a documentary on the atomic bomb tonight.
The documentary, “The Bomb,” is scheduled to start at 7 p.m. The two-hour documentary will highlight the path humans took to harness the power of atomic energy.
According to PBS, “The Bomb” will feature newly restored footage of nuclear weaponry that was only recently released by the government. Also included will be rarely seen footage from bomb tests through the 1950s and 1960s.
Of course, much of the primary research work for the construction of the atomic bomb, which was a key instrument in ending World War II in Japan, was done in Los Alamos.
“The arc of this story is filled with fascinating breakthroughs, agonizing human dilemmas, and unintended consequences,” said Bill Margol, senior director of Programming and Development for PBS. “‘The Bomb’ provides a comprehensive look at the nuclear age and offers a chance for current generations to understand the indelible impact this discovery and invention had, and continues to have, on all of us.”
On Wednesday, there will be a presentation on NOVA, the long-running PBS series, entitled “Nuclear Meltdown Disaster,” about the nuclear accident in Fukushima, Japan.

ESPAÑOLA — The LANL Foundation recently awarded 15 $1,000 Regional College/Returning Student scholarships from the Los Alamos Employees’ Scholarship Fund.
The awards, according to the foundation, go to help nontraditional students return to formal education to expand their opportunities or pursue new careers with a certification or two-year degree from an accredited college in northern New Mexico.
Funding comes from donations made by Los Alamos National Laboratory employees and Los Alamos National Security, LLC. Scholarships are administered by the LANL Foundation with student selection and program oversight provided by an advisory committee of volunteer donors.
This year’s recipients included:

The Shelly A. Wiemann office of Edward Jones Investments will have a grand re-opening and ribbon cutting Wednesday.
The ribbon cutting is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. at its location, 555 Oppenheimer Drive, suite 206.
Prior to the ribbon-cutting, there will be an open house at the office, starting at 3 p.m. Refreshments and light snacks will be served.
Wiemann recently assumed responsibility for the Los Alamos office of the investment firm.
“I am excited to take over the Edward Jones office in Los Alamos,” Wiemann said in a release announcing the event. “I know the people of this community have come to rely upon our firm to provide them with sound investment advice that is geared toward individual investors. I will strive to continue our tradition of excellence here.”
Prior to joining Edward Jones, Wiemann was an associate financial advisor with an insurance company.
According to her bio, Wiemann has many years of personnel management and data analysis experience, which was a natural progression of her education at the University of Minnesota.
Wiemann earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology and a master’s degree in industrial psychology in 2004.

In the course of just two weeks, a group of teenagers have completely destroyed what was left inside of an iconic Los Alamos business.
Damages inside The Black Hole, located on Arkansas Avenue, included the building’s many windows and two highly prized pieces of sculpture, one reported to worth between $8,000 and $10,000, according to police reports.
The Black Hole was part government surplus depot, part art museum, and was known throughout the world.
When it was fully operational, customers could purchase technology and equipment once owned by the Los Alamos National Laboratory, as well as art created by the store’s owner, Ed Grothus.
Grothus was also a peace activist and artist who also once worked at the lab as a machinist and technician. Grothus created works of art to display and sell at The Black Hole, two of which were destroyed by the teens last month.
A few years after his death in 2009, The Black Hole closed its doors, but the sculptures and other items remained behind as Grothus’ family worked to settle his estate and dispose of what was left.
On June 8, the manager of the property filed a report with police about a June 7 incident where kids threw one of Grothus’ sculptures off the roof the building, destroying it.

Today
Las Conchas Fire: Sketches in Charcoal and Fire. Join artist Rumi Vesselinova as she presents photographs of the Las Conchas fire as she viewed it from Santa Fe during the fire, and images of the fire-altered landscape as it appeared after the fire. 7 p.m. Free. losalamosnature.org.

A chapter of The Compassionate Friends will meet on the fourth Tuesday of each month at 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. on the northeast side of the new YMCA Annex, Central Park Square, suite 140. Co-led by Eric Ferm and Valerie Wood. The organization offers non-denominational grief support after the death of a child. Bereaved parents and grandparents are welcome regardless of age. For more information visit compassionatefriends.org.

If you have the flexibility to take a play day on Friday afternoon, consider a tactile experience with clay. Kneading and shaping clay is an experience that relieves stress.
Start the weekend by joining a Fuller Lodge Art Center field trip to the professional studio of Ginny Zipperer in Santa Fe to learn how to create two pieces of art.
Participants will work in a spacious, well-equipped pottery studio. Adults and children alike will lose themselves in the magic of working with clay. Zipperer is an experienced instructor who can teach basic techniques to students of all ages.
She will provide clay tiles and teach participants how to carve into the tiles and also build clay on top of the tiles to create designs. Friends and family that join the field trip together can work to build a mural.
After the first project, the class will choose whether to make a second tile or roll the clay slabs into tumblers, which can also be relief decorated.
Zipperer will later glaze and bake the pieces following detailed color directions left by each tile artist. Finished pieces will be fired and delivered to the Art Center at a later date.
The class runs from 2-5 p.m. at 2709 Camino Chueco in Santa Fe. A carpool will leave the art center around 1 p.m. for those interested.

I’m so excited! Another adventure in lifetime learning is about to begin.
There will be a bunch of new rooms to learn about, the great smiling staff, the smell of new books in the air, new computers to check out and so much more.
I’m talking, of course, about the new White Rock Branch Library. After a brief closure, lots of packing, several moving trucks and a sprinkling of volunteers, the time has almost arrived for us.
Rumor has it that there will be a soft opening, but I say no, wait for the grand event. Don’t worry about being first, but participate in the celebratory day when youth will get to see people of all ages excited about reading.
My kids are too old, of course, but wouldn’t it be great to camp out in the parking lot the night before as if hoping one could be first through the doors?

The Pajarito Environmental Education Center offers the public a opportunity to explore fire through both art and science. The Las Conchas Fire in 2011 burned more than 150,000 acres in the areas around Los Alamos.
During the fire and over the next four years, photographer Rumi Vesselinova has sought to capture how the event altered the visual landscape of the region. Join the artist as she presents these images from 7-7:30 p.m. today at the Los Alamos Nature Center.
Immediately after the artist reception, Terry Foxx will discuss the fire from the perspective of a plant ecologist. Having studied fire for 40 years, she shares what she has learned about nature recovering after fire and why we have conditions relating to fire and catastrophic fires. She presents a positive outlook about how the forest will recover after the devastation of a major wildfire.
Foxx is a plant ecologist, writer and artist. She taught plant taxonomy at University of New Mexico-Los Alamos in the 1970s, wrote a book with Dorothy Hoard, “Flowers of the Southwestern Woodlands,” taught classes and led hikes for more than 40 years.

This year brought the 35th edition of “The Capitol Fourth,” the public broadcasting show that runs twice each July 4. “The Capitol Fourth” celebrates the United States.
To start this year, Barry Manilow walked onto the stage, took his place at the piano and sang, “America the Beautiful.” He followed with his own “Let Freedom Ring.” The song’s chorus says, “It’s a dream to build upon. We’ll take the dream and pass it on and on and on, and let freedom sing, let freedom ring.”
The show included Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture. The overture was accompanied by fireworks exploding in the sunset behind the Washington Monument, which was framed by flags.
The usual 10-minute fireworks and music spectacular closed the show with a medley of Souza marches and “Yankee Doodle Boy,” from the musical “Yankee Doodle Dandy.”
A few weeks ago, I mentioned our drive-by of historic sites in Massachusetts and Philadelphia.
We went to Lexington and Concord, Old North Church and Paul Revere’s house in Boston, and Independence Hall In Philadelphia. Spirits inhabit these places. Not ghosts, really, but a definite sense of events having happened.
Today, Lexington and Concord mean the Minute Man National Historical Park.

Albuquerque Isotopes infielder Trevor Story has been tabbed Pacific Coast League Player of the Week for July 20-26, the league office announced Monday morning. He is the first Isotopes position player to receive a weekly accolade since Alex Castellanos on July 1-7, 2013.
Story turned in a .500 batting average (13-for-26) in six games last week with six doubles, four home runs, 11 RBI and two walks. He posted a 1.192 slugging percentage and .536 on-base percentage. The 22-year-old turned in multi-hit games in five of his six outings, including a pair of three-hit performances. Story also made three highlight-reel plays defensively at shortstop on three consecutive nights in Reno.
Since joining Albuquerque on June 30, Story is batting .301 with 14 runs scored, 12 doubles, six home runs and 16 RBI. 18 of his 25 hits are for extra bases. He is currently riding a seven-game hitting streak in which he has at least two hits in six of the seven games.